Had a strong tailwind on my ride to breakfast this morning. Too much tailwind. I showed up 7 minutes early and had to wait in a strong chilly breeze. I will have to pay better attention to time.
I look like I got punched in the face. Early on my ride into work I had a nose bleed. Didn't notice right away because my nose runs all the time during cold rides. Trying to get the bleeding to stop took awhile as I couldn't keep a hand free to plug my nose, and with the temperatures below freezing I wasn't about to stop. By the time I reached work I looked pretty messy.
The temperature this morning was around 14°F/-10°C. While cold the ride in was easier than the ride home on Friday where the strong cold winds made it very uncomfortable. Tried out a new face mask. This one has a respirator style breathing port. That means it provides wind cover but doesn't restrict breathing. That seemed to work alright but was a little tight around the nose. With the temperatures cooling off I've started to keep my bike inside. This isn't for the bike as much as it is for me. Loading my bike only takes a couple minutes, but when it is cold those couple of minutes without motion really drop body temperature. Loading up inside means I only have a spend the first couple minutes of the ride being chilly. So here is my bike in the shop at work during load up.
Worked from home for the first time in a long time today. Had to wait for the plumber. We have several small plumbing items that needed to be addressed, but the big reason they were called was to get a quote about replacing our dying water heater. After fixing the simple items, including a leaky valve for water coming into the house they had a look at what it would take to do the replacement work. I should be getting a quote in a couple days.
Harry Potter themed party this evening. I forgot to take pictures, but we had a good turnout. Often this party starts a little slow so Xiphos started a role playing campaign to give those who came early something to do. However, a lot of people showed up and shortly after they started and made the game hard to finish.
The second snowfall of the season and this one with a more significant accumulation. The morning ride to work was the warmest part of the day. Temperatures dropped to around 25ºF/-4ºC by the time I left work. I had to go to the bike shop to get my center sprocket replaced. The temperature wasn't difficult, but the winds and low humidity were brutal. I rode with my double shirt and medium fitted pants. That was fine for my the majority of my body but my face was getting brutalized. At the shop they had to drill my sprocket as all the screws were seized. It took about an hour. During that time the temperature had continued to drop. It was noticeably colder for the remainder of the ride. I put on my goggles which helped, but my hour ride took an hour and 20 minutes because of the headwind. At times it seemed I could have walked faster. The nice riding season is over.
Forecast for tomorrow calls for an inch or two of snow. However, there is rain forecast before the snow. That means there could be ice. So I decided this evening I would switch to my studded tires.
I trashed a two week old chain a few days ago. After a hill it was twisted. This used to happen to me when I used cheep hardware. Riding a $50 bike, every hill I would cause the chain to twist. But I haven't ridden a cheep bike like that in over 14 years. I was able to ride but only on my largest sprocket. Otherwise the chain would just skip. Today was the first day I had time to visit the bike shop after work before they closed. Initially they were just going to replace the bad link. Then found 4 other spots it was twisted. I had trashed my brand new chain. After some inspection they found my middle sprocket was bent. I most have caused the chain to jump off and twist during high-torque riding. A new part was ordered and I was setup with a new chain and told to take it easy till the parts were replaced.
